The governor responded with a letter addressed to Tancredo’s Washington office that, “The bottom line is Miami is a wonderful city filled with diversity and heritage that we choose to celebrate, not insult. Miami has been my home for years and I am looking forward to returning there in January.”

Citing a current issue of TIME magazine that described Miami as a “corrupt, exorbitant mess” where locals are fleeing in droves, Tancredo fired back: “Florida, like America itself, attracts people from many places, and immigrants always bring diverse cultures, races, and religious beliefs to our shores. It is precisely because of these diverse origins, cultures and languages that Florida and America depend on a few things to hold us together. One of the most important things that contributes to cohesion and not fragmentation is the English language and the evidence suggests that this is something that fewer and fewer Miamians share.”

It’s apparent, he added, fewer and fewer residents of that city even think of themselves as Americans.